Hi all. I'm the proud owner of a very old duplex. The front unit was built in 1905, and a rear unit added on about 20 years later. Each unit is 2br/1ba and about 900 sqft. And as far as I can tell, there has never been any real upkeep done.

I inherited the home from my grandmother 6 years ago. The wiring was still the original, with glass fuses, and she'd mostly just used outlet splitters and extension cords where she needed them. In some cases, she'd pulled an outlet out of the wall, cut one end off an extension cord, and spliced it directly to the outlet. This is just an example of the type of things done to the house, everything is either as it originally was or dangerously jury rigged.

When I moved in, I slapped on a new coat of paint, and had the electrical replaced, and that's pretty much it. I was in a bad place financially at the time, and although I hate to admit it, I was kinda scared of home repair. Since then, I'd done a few little tiny repairs here and there when absolutely necessary, but no real work.

Then, about a month ago, I was in my bathroom, looking at the sign I'd hung over the toilet about a year ago. It was a detailed warning on how you HAD to use the plunger pretty much every time you used the toilet, because it was just that broken. And I said, heck with it, I'm going to replace a toilet. It took 2 weeks research on the internet and 2 days of solid work, but I now have a working toilet in my bathroom, and man, does it feel good to have done the work. I have pics of the whole project, but since I can't post a link yet, you'll have to go to Photobucket and search for my username (moonsquares) to find the album (toilet repair). It's pretty scary how bad things had gotten.

So, now I've decided I'm going to do some serious work. I'm going to start with the plumbing, and probably have to replace everything - I'll post in the appropriate forum later. But there's a ton of stuff that needs to be done, so you'll be seeing me all over the place. Wish me luck!

Congratulations!! I know what you mean by feeling good about doing it yourself. I got my "major project" in the divorce. I thought I would rather have the half finished house than all the "toys". I now know how to apply vapor barrier, cedar siding, install kitchen cabinets, set toilets, sinks, faucets, and now working on finish trim. I revived an old table saw and started shopping at Harbor Freight Tools. I still have all of my fingers and I have learned a lot. I wish you every success. Even if you have to regroup and go to plan B, C or further don't give up. Looking forward to seeing the success stories of another novice.

Welcome to the both of you, start sharing some stories and asking for help if you need it.
And if you can help others, feel free to grab a shovel and dig in, we need the experiences of others to sometimes get the job done easier, and right.

Welcome aboard...I'm in a similar boat as you. I'm pretty new to doing any form of work like this on my own. I've asked a few questions here and have gotten useful responses that have been putting me down the right paths.